Binding & design

1.

2. (BEARDSLEY, Aubrey). POPE, Alexander The Rape of the Lock. A Heroi-Comical Poem in Five Cantos. Embroidered with Nine Drawings by Aubrey Beardsley. Londen, Leonard Smithers, 1896. Original richly gilt blue cloth with design by Beardsley. (2), 48 p. Uncut. Illustrated with a frontispice, six drawings printed on art paper, a headpiece and a tailpiece by Aubrey Beardsley. The binding is fine. The gold is a bit uneven, but it is shimmering brightly. Inside covers partly browned.
€ 600
* The splendorous binding and eight superb illustrations by Beardsley make this book one of the pinnacles of the 1890s.

10. GOLDSMITH, Oliver The Vicar of Wakefield. With a Preface by Austin Dobson and Illustrations by Hugh Thomson. London, Macmillan, 1891. Original richly gilt cloth. (4), 36, 306, (6) p. All edges gilt. Second edition. Reading slant. Gutters burst, but a very good copy of this glittering 1890’s book. Some foxing.
€ 30
* Full of whimsical and nicely detailed drawings and funny initials by Thomson.

19. MILNE, A.A. Now we are six. With decorations by Ernest H. Shepard. London, Methuen, 1929. Original gilt leather. (8), 104 p. Richly illustrated. All edges gilt. Fourth edition. Spine slightly worn at top and foot, a few tiny flakes. No discoloring! Owner’s inscription ‘C.M. Thompson’ on first flyleaf.
€ 120
* Very good copy of the deluxe binding in fine, soft tawny leather, with 5 humorous depictions of Christopher Robin on the spine. On the upper cover the author’s gilt initials in a chocolate brown decoration.

22. (NIEUWENHUIS, Theo). HOFKER, Jan Gedachten en Verbeeldingen. Met Inleiding van L. van Deyssel. (With an original etched portrait of the author by Willem Witsen). Amsterdam, S.L. van Looy, 1906. Original (dark) honey-coloured full vellum with dark brown and natural decorations and lettering in batik combined with lines and dots blocked in gold. Signed by T[heo] N[ieuwenhuis]. All edges gilt. (10), 144 p. One of 50 deluxe copies on mould-made paper by Van Gelder. First edition. Spine very slightly worn. Two library stamps on flyleaf and first blank page. Signature on first blank page ‘C.F. Hofker’.
€ 2950
* Fantastic batik binding designed by Nieuwenhuis. This magnificent deluxe edition, one of the pinnacles of Dutch Art Nouveau bookbinding, was distributed among friends and admirers of Hofker (1864-1945), a sensitivistic author and a friend of many ‘Tachtigers’. Nieuwenhuis specially painted the owner’s monogram on the lower cover of the copies that were sold. In this case it is ‘F.H.’, the eldest brother of the author, Cornelis Fredrik Hofker (1849-1921).

24. NOVALIS Die Gedichte von Friedrich von Hardenberg genannt Novalis. [Den Haag], (De Zilverdistel, 1915). Original supple vellum parchment with gilt spine lettering and Zilverdistel vignette in gold on the front cover. In modern paper slipcase with the same vignette (Phoenix Bindery). (6), 132 p. Set by handwith a type designed by Peter Schoeffer of Gernsheim and printed by J. F. van Royen on a hand-operated press of Enschede in red and black in 200 copies. With two brown spots on the lower side of the otherwise creamy white vellum. Bookplate of Lucy Spiegl.
€ 350
* Baroness Spiegl Lucy von Goldschmidt-Rothschild (1891-1977) was friends with Else Lasker-Schüler. Exceptionally beautiful deluxe biliophile edition. Nowadays the designer of the historic type of this book is thought to be not Schoeffer, but the printer Peter Quentell of Cologne (1475-1546). De Zilverdistel 11. Van Royen 1964, 7.

25. (OFFEL, Edmond van). FARRAR, F.W. Drie cricket-spelers. (Proof of the bookbinding with two designs). 1. Sketch in green, white and grey on brown paper. Some wear.
2. Title and author in two different strips of paper pasted on a drawing in black on white paper. Signed by Edmond van Offel.
3. Proof binding: front, back and spine in cloth and board in colors and fabric different from the final version.
4. Drie cricket-spelers. Utrecht, H. Honig, [1905]. Decorated cloth after the design by Van Offel. (4), 296 p. With illustrations by Stanley L. Wood. 2nd edition of this Dutch translation of The three homes. A tale for fathers and sons.
€ 275
* Proof bookbinding in black and bright green on rough cloth. The binding that was used is in brown, bright green and greyish green and without embossing on smoothed cloth.
Edmond van Offel (1871-1959) was one of the foremost Belgian art nouveau artists, especially active as a book designer.

27. PERCY, Gilbert Piccalilli. Illustrated by George Thomas & T.R. Macquoid. London, Sampson Low Son and Co., 1862. Gilt and blindstamped blue cloth, decorated with a spider in a cobweb surrounded by branches dotted with lizards, a frog and a bat. Lower cover blindstamped only with intricate decoration. (2), 110 p. All edges gilt. 13 illustrations, all [wood-]engraved by Edmund Evans. First edition. Binding worn: top of spine damaged, worn at the tail. Corners bumped. Some wear and slight stains.
€ 25
* Rare childrens’s book in mediocre condition with very delicate and intimate illustrations.

29. (ROMANTIC BINDING). KATE, J.J.L. ten Italië. Reisherinneringen. Arnhem, J.W. Swaan, [1857]. Richly gilt full morocco. xxviii, 404 pp. All edges gilt. With a full-page tinted lithograph for the title page and 3 extratext tinted lithographical illustrations. List of subscribers after the title. First edition. Very slight wear on some edges, but an almost fine copy.
€ 450

* Romantic, eclectic bookbinding: a luxurious Renaissance archway grants a view of St.-Peter’s and the Forum, with a few typical Italians as staffage. The charming scene has been set in an elegant frame of rococo decorations. The binding was designed after the title lithograph and signed in the plate S.J. de Vries, In gold the name of cliché maker S.J. de Vries. Binding signed J. Herfkens Fz., Utrecht (active as a binder 1844-1864). The text is about an eight week trip to Italy, peppered with fine Victorian poetry. With prints of Vesuvius, the Roman Forum and the Grand Canal, by C.C.A. Last.
Reportedly from a 19th century Dutch royal collection, that was sold by Queen Emma (1858-1934) or from her estate.

32. SHELLEY, P.B. Prometheus unbound. A lyrical Drama in four Acts. [Den Haag], (De Zilverdistel), 1917. Original limp vellum with gilt spine title and Zilverdistel-vignette on upper cover. (4), 148 p. Set by hand and printed by J.F. van Royen on his own hand-press with the Zilvertype in red and black in 125 copies. Modern slipcase with the Zilverdistel vignette (Phoenix Bindery).
€ 550
* De Zilverdistel 15. Van Royen 1964, 11.

34. SLAUERHOFF, J. Serenade. Gedichten. Maastricht/ Brussel, The Halcyon Press, 1930. Original wrappers. In a gilt cloth clamshell box (with a vignette by John Buckland Wright, title on spine). (4), 40 p. Set from J. van Krimpen’s Romanée and printed in 310 numbered copies. 1st edition. Top of cover a bit discolored. Fine, intact copy.
€ 1400
* One of only 10 Roman numbered deluxe copies, printed on Japanese paper – and this is one of the major books of poems of the Dutch literature. De Halcyon Pers 3. Van Dijk 230.